


Turning over a new shell

by secret170193



Category: Moana (2016)
Genre: Banter, Gen, Lalotai horrors, Mentions of Starvation, Monster Fights, Post-Canon, Tamatoa couldn't get up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2019-01-08 04:10:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12246720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secret170193/pseuds/secret170193
Summary: A few months after the heart of Te Fiti was restored, Moana and Maui return to Lalotai. Upon finding a certain crab monster in distress they stick around to help him out. If he'll let them.





	1. Chapter 1

Moana held her breath as she plummeted towards Lalotai, the sea barrier barely slowing her descent. She knew Maui was waiting for her at the bottom, but that didn't stop her letting out a gasp as she broke through the water and fell gracelessly into the demigod’s arms.

“Hey, I caught you last time didn’t I?”

Moana lowered herself to the floor, folding her arms with a smile and rolled her eyes.

“Funny, I could have sworn I landed on you last time.”

Maui mock pouted as his little self tattoo laughed at him, mimicking him getting knocked over by a falling Moana.

“Yeah, yeah, let’s just hurry up and get this over with, this isn’t exactly the safest place for a mortal to be.”

Moana held her spear at the ready, remembering their last trip to the realm of the monsters as she looked around.

“We managed to make it out okay last time, right? And this time you’ve got all of your powers back.”

Maui twirled his hook around his wrist a few times, letting it’s weight settle back in his hand. 

“Yeah but that doesn’t mean this trip is safe, heck that scavenging lowlife might still be in the area.”

Moana stopped in her tracks, giving her friend a worried look.

“You /can/ take him if we do bump into him, right?”

Maui scoffed, patting Moana on the head. 

“Don’t worry, kid, I can take him on and then some.”

Moana relaxed and continued walking, searching for the fabled artefact they’d come down to the underworld for. She walked a short distance ahead of Maui, coming to a stop when she reached the top of a small hill where the trees parted.

“You might not have to take him on...”

Maui caught up, frowning slightly as he saw what Moana had spotted. At the foot of the hill sat the geyser they’d used to escape Lalotai on their last visit. Not more than ten feet from it lay a fifty foot mound, just barely recognisable to the two as the boastful coconut crab they’d knocked over in their efforts to flee him.

Moana edged closer slowly, looking sympathetically at the shell embedded in the dirt, most of its treasures long gone, ripped roughly from the shell leaving imprints and jagged marks. The remaining gold was matted by months of dust and mud, and no longer reflected any light. She looked back at Maui as he jumped up onto Tamatoa's chest and paused at the crabs head, the demigod’s expression tinted with regret. Moana climbed up and put a hand on his arm.

“I’m sorry, you were..um.. friends once, weren’t you?”

Maui shrugged, sighing.

“Sort of? As close as a monster from Lalotai can get to being a friend anyway. I thought he'd be okay.”

A sudden vibration through the massive monster's undershell had both of them tensing in terror as one of the beady eyes lifted off the ground slowly to look at them.

“If you’re here to gloat over my rotting corpse can you at least wait until I’m dead?”

Maui gave a nervous laugh, suddenly aware that they were stood dangerously close to a not as dead as they’d first thought monster.

“Hey there, no gloating going on here, none at all! We'll just... um.. be on our way?”

Tamatoa opened both eyes, glaring at Maui before his pupils focused in on Moana, recognising her instantly. He lifted a giant claw, suddenly grabbing at the girl. Maui’s expression hardened as he gripped his hook tight, the bright blue glow of it lighting up their dark surroundings. 

“Oh no you don't!”

Moana, a bit more accustomed to danger after her first trip with Maui, didn’t panic too much, pushing hard against the smaller side of Tamatoa's claw. To her surprise it gave way almost instantly, trembling in its effort to stay closed. She pushed the massive claw to one side, staring in shock as it flopped back to the crab's side. Maui looked just as astonished, looking between Moana and Tamatoa's weak glare. He lowered his hook with a frown.

“You’re in terrible shape, crab cake. When was the last time you ate?”

Moana edged closer to the demigod, not willing to risk another fight with the monster's claw. Now that she could see his face properly she realised what Maui meant. Tamatoa's shell might have remained the same size but his skin was a withered grey colour, his neck slim from muscle wastage and his eyes sunken into their stems. It really wasn’t surprising they’d mistaken him for a corpse. A snort from Tamatoa shook Moana from her thoughts.

“Let's put it this way, you were the last thing I had in my mouth.”

Maui rubbed the back of his head, Tamatoa's bitterness having no effect on him. 

“So a while then.”

Tamatoa lifted his head with a great effort, giving a shaky smirk.

“If you step a bit closer I could carry on where we left off.”

The crab gave a humourless chuckle when Maui raised an eyebrow at him, letting his head fall limply back into the dirt.

“Yeah I didn’t think so. Now go away, I'd rather die in peace.”

Moana looked up at Maui awkwardly, keeping her voice low.

“We're not really going to just leave him like this, are we?”

Maui stared at the teenager like she'd grown a second head.

“Might I remind you he tried to eat us!”

Moana looked over at Tamatoa with a worried expression, the crab looking dangerously close to passing out. She sighed, trying to put reasoning behind her desire to help somehow.

“Well.. he did keep your hook safe for a thousand years.”

Maui felt his jaw drop.

“Are you serious!? That’s all you can come up with?”

Moana shrugged with a sheepish smile.

“I can’t help it, I don’t know why but I feel bad just leaving him here to die. Can’t we at least roll him over?”

Maui pinched the bridge of his nose.

“If this ends badly, I get to say ‘I told you so'.”

Moana shook Maui's hand, both knowing such a bet was more of a jest than much else.

“Deal!”


	2. Chapter 2

Moana leapt off Tamatoa's shell and started gathering vines from the immediate area. She didn’t want to risk stepping out of Maui’s line of sight when there were likely to be so many monsters about. Tamatoa lifted his head a little, his skin twitching from the effort. He watched Moana with one eye, the other staying fixed on Maui with a suspicious glare. 

“What are you two up to?”

Maui grinned, leaning on his hook casually.

“Believe it or not, we're going to help you out, so maybe show a bit of gratitude.”

Tamatoa took his eye off Moana to stare at Maui, his expression stony, clearly not believing a word the demigod said. Moana dragged over as many vines as she could hold and tossed the ends up to Maui. 

“Hold onto these for a second, I’m just going to weave them thicker.”

Maui held the vines together in one hand, not taking his eyes off of Tamatoa as Moana plaited the vines into a thicker rope. After a few long moments the giant crab let his expression weaken to one of surprise. 

“Wait, you're serious? Why would you do that?”

Maui waited for Moana to finish before edging towards the crab's right front leg.

“Maybe we're feeling charitable, do you really want to question it? Now stay still.”

Tamatoa tensed as Maui started tying the rope around his remaining front leg, tossing the rest of the rope down to Moana on the opposite side of the monster, jumping down to join her.

“Okay princess, this is going to be a bit harder than flipping that canoe of yours, hope you’re ready for this.”

Moana gripped the rope, wrapping it partway around herself before handing the rest to Maui. 

“Okay, ready?”

Tamatoa turned his head with a slight jolt.

“Wait! You’re not gonna just pull my other leg off, are you?”

Maui wrapped the end of the rope around his wrist, gripping tight with both hands.

“Not if you don’t struggle. One, two, three, heave!”

Both Moana and Maui leant back, starting to pull hard, their efforts making no difference on the upturned monster other than to awkwardly pull his leg across his chest. Maui, not one to be beat so easily, grabbed his hook and took on the form of a whale, letting the slope beneath him pull his weight slowly down it. Tamatoa gritted his teeth hard as his leg got roughly yanked across his shell, dirt cracking from his back as he was finally pulled onto his front where he promptly collapsed. Maui shifted back, letting go of the rope with a smirk.

“There, that wasn’t so hard.”

Moana dropped the rope too, taking a bit longer than Maui to catch her breath. Tamatoa tried to stagger to his feet, barely lifting himself off the floor before his weight brought him back down again, his trembling limbs folding under him. Moana couldn’t help a sympathetic look.

“He can’t even get back to his lair like this. He needs food.”

Maoi turned to berate Moana only to be met with puppy dog eyes. He sighed, pointing his hook non-threateningly at the teenager. 

“Fine, but don’t go near him while I’m gone. He's weak but he might still try to eat you.”

Giving the crab a cautious glance, Maui shapeshifted into his famed Hawk form before soaring straight up and into the sea barrier, the shadow of a hawk morphing into that of a shark as the demigod hunted down nearby fish.

Heeding Maui's warning, Moana stayed at a distance she didn’t think the crab could reach. Tamatoa cursed his traitorous limbs under his breath, turning one eye to glare at Moana. 

“Why is a human trying to help a monster like me, hm?”

Moana almost jumped at being addressed personally. She fiddled with her hands behind her back.

“Sometimes the best thing you can do is help someone. Even if that someone tried to turn you into a delicacy...”

Tamatoa scoffed, looking away quickly.

“Don’t flatter yourself, babe, you'd have been less than a mouthful and rather boney too.”

Moana shuddered a bit at the thought, counting herself lucky that the sadistic crab liked to play with his food.

“Well you don’t need to eat me now, right? I mean we’ve helped you and it's not like we need to be in your home for anything now.”

Tamatoa folded his claws across his chest.

“Look, human, I’m a monster. I don’t do gratitude and I don't make exceptions with my food. Once I can move again you and little Maui are fair game, got it?”

Moana would have been more frightened if it didn’t look like the fifty foot crab was almost sulking. She raised an eyebrow, unaware of how closely she was mimicking Maui's same expression. Tamatoa narrowed an eye at her.

“What? What’s that look for? Stop that.”

Moana leaned forward on her toes, hands gripped lightly behind her back.

“I think you’re just saying that so you won’t look bad infront of the other monsters.”

Tamatoa's feelers gave a little shake, much like a wolf raising it’s hackles.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Moana grinned, starting to unravel the vines so she could tug it off of Tamatoa's leg from a distance.

“Well your whole thing is about looking big and bright and obvious, right? I guess in a place like Lalotai that leaves no space for showing any weakness, like say.. sparing a single human?”

Tamatoa lifted his leg with a small wince, biting back a hiss of pain as Moana pulled the vines off of him. Luckily for him Maui dropped out of the sky with talons full of fish before Tamatoa had a chance to answer Moana. Maui dropped his cargo infront of the crab, gliding to land next to Moana, a human again in less than a blink. 

“That should tide him by until he can get back to that cave. Come on kid, we can camp out back at the entrance, I’m not falling asleep here.”

Moana tossed the unravelled vines to one side, smiling a bit as Tamatoa's attention was immediately taken by the pile of fish, claws shovelling what he could hold straight down his throat. She nodded, getting ready for the demigod to carry them both up through the barrier again. 

“Can we check on him tomorrow? You know, if he’s not home by then.”

Maui noticed her sympathy and couldn’t help feeling a slight pull of it himself.

“Yeah, sure, we're not in any rush.”

Tamatoa glanced up as the forms of Maoi and Moana disappeared through the watery ceiling, swallowing his mouthful with a frown. Their generosity confused him and the human's compassion left an odd squirming feeling in his chest that he put down to the sudden meal after months of starvation. He definitely wasn’t feeling gratitude. Monsters don't feel grateful, it’s just how they were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait, day and night shifts have really messed around with my brain and body! Exhaustion and the inability to sleep do not go well together


	3. Chapter 3

Moana set her feet on the ground as Maui put her down. Fully rested, they both expected Tamatoa to have rested too and be long gone back to his lair. When they reached the top of the hill both of them were quite surprised to see that after a meal of fish and a full night of rest the giant crustacean had barely moved ten feet in the direction of his lair. Moana headed down the hillside, noticing the marks in the ground where Tamatoa had dragged himself overnight. She staggered to a halt a reasonable distance from the crab, debating whether to get any closer. Tamatoa had his face covered by his claws, most likely to sleep and protect his flesh from any Lalotai scavengers. Maui put a hand on Moana's shoulder, stepping past her.

“Stay there. I’ll check on him.”

Maui cautiously stepped up to Tamatoa, tapping his hook against a gigantic claw.

“Hey, anybody home?”

The claw lifted slowly, Tamatoa's eyes examining Maui from the shadows.

“Oh, it’s you. What do you want?”

Maui relaxed a bit, hearing less disdain in his voice than yesterday. He chuckled, trying not to look too sympathetic. He knew the crab would only hate that. 

“Looks like you didn’t get too far last night. I guess you’re going to take a while to recover from this, huh?”

Tamatoa sighed and moved his claws, narrowing his eyes at the Demigod. 

“What’s it to you?”

Maui glanced over his shoulder to Moana, who was listening from a safe distance, before pointing at Tamatoa with a slight smile.

“Just stay put, I’ll get you some more food, got it big guy? Cheehoo!”

Tamatoa stared in shock as Maui gave a shout and shot toward the ceiling in hawk form. Moana edged forwards carefully, watching Tamatoa with a gentler caution.

“How are you feeling?”

Tamatoa brought his gaze back down to the teenager, his expression unreadable for a few moments. Moana almost stepped back, wondering briefly if the crab had just waited for Maui to leave before attacking her. Luckily Tamatoa blinked out of his train of thought.

“I don’t get it, why are you concerned for me? If you’re looking for payment of some sort then might I remind you I'm rather broke right now.” 

He pointed over his shoulder with a claw to his barren shell. Moana held her hands up with a quick shake of her head.

“No, no I don’t want your gold, I just want to help.”

Tamatoa stared at Moana like she'd grown a shark head, lowering his claw to the ground.

“You’re wasting your time, monsters don't show gratitude. And if you're trying to befriend me somehow I’m just going to disappoint you there too, babe. Monsters don't befriend humans.”

Moana put a hand on her hip, regarding the crab with a slight smile.

“You say that, but this is the second time you haven’t attacked me.”

Tamatoa huffed, turning his head away from the teenager.

“I’m not stupid, I know exactly what Maui would do to me if I ate you, and it'd probably be worse than losing a leg. He seems quite attached to you.”

Moana couldn't help her gaze being drawn towards the crab’s torn up stump of a leg.

“So... Maui never actually told me why he um.. pulled your leg off.”

Tamatoa folded his claws defensively.

“Normally I'd love to talk about me but that’s not exactly a story I can brag about babe.”

Moana took a few steps closer, holding her spear by her side.

“Please? I could get Maui to tell me but I want to hear it from you.”

The giant crab looked Moana up and down for a moment, hardly realising the urge to crush her or swallow her whole wasn’t there despite her being within reach now. He sighed, laying his chin on the ground.

“Fine. So it turns out shiny things don’t just attract fish and I may have...”

He lowered his voice to a mutter, half expecting Maui to drop out of nowhere any second. 

“...caused a few human ships to wreck and stole their treasures when they sank into Lalotai.”

Moana's eyes widened, giving a knowing gasp. She knew that back then, and even to a strong extent now, Maui felt very protective over mankind. She imagined he couldn’t have been pleased to find out the crab was killing possibly hundreds of humans for gold.

“But you were friends before that?”

The giant crab tensed a bit, eyes drawing close together to focus on Moana who was only a dozen or so feet away from him now.

“Monsters don’t have friends.”

Maui landed on the edge of Tamatoa's shell, dropping a beakfull of fish by his head.

“Now that’s not very nice, big guy, I considered us friends.”

Maui winked at the crab with a confident grin that only a demigod could put on the beak of a giant hawk. Tamatoa gulped down all of the fish loudly, speaking through a mouthful of chewed scales.

“That mfhg..mh.. That was your mistake...grph..”

Moana made a face of disgust, lifting a hand to shield her eyes from the rather messy view. Maui spread his wings and glided down to Moana's side, changing back to human in a bright flash of light.

“I guess if you’re serious about helping out this ungrateful bottom feeder we'll have to put our little quest on hold.”

Moana ignored the glare Tamatoa shot at Maui, the demigod grinning innocently in return. She nodded eagerly, trying to take the crab’s attention off of Maui’s attempts at getting under his skin. Or shell. 

“It doesn’t feel right to stop helping now, he just needs food and rest, right?”

Maui shrugged, unfazed by the crab’s noisy eating.

“I guess, but just until he can get back to his place on his own, okay? I might be immortal, but you’re not. If this takes more than a week I’ll drop you off on that island of yours.”

Moana knew better than to argue about immortality and time with a stubborn demigod.

“Okay okay, you'd better get to fishing then.”

Maui lifted Moana suddenly, holding her at arms length with both hands holding her a foot off the ground. Despite her indignant struggles, he took a few large steps away from Tamatoa and drew a line in the dirt with his foot before dropping Moana on the other side of it.

“No stepping past this line while I’m gone.”

He gave Moana a look that meant he meant business on that matter before taking off for the sea ceiling in hawk form again. Moana huffed, pouting. 

“He’s not going to eat me!”

Tamatoa watched the whole thing with an amused hum, smirking at the teenager.

“How do you know that? I’m still feeling starved.”

Moana couldn’t help feeling a bit relieved that Tamatoa was starting to sound more like his confident old self, but at the same time it reminded her of their first unfortunate meeting. 

“You won't, I’m boney and Maui would kill you.”

Tamatoa rolled his eyes, leaning his chin on his claw.

“You take all the fun out of playing with your food, you know that?”

Moana sat herself down just behind the line in the dirt, folding her arms, trying to mimic the stern ‘do as you’re told’ expression she’d seen so often on her father's face. 

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you that it’s bad manners to play with your food.”

Tamatoa knew when humans were joking around with him, he'd spent enough time around Maui to at least pick up on that. He chuckled, his antenna relaxing against the back of his head. 

“You’re really going to lecture a brobdingnagian crustacean on how to behave?”

Moana, much to his delight, looked completely baffled for a good few moments. 

“A brobdi- What?”

Tamatoa looked like he was basking in the petty superiority that his vocabulary sometimes brought him.

“Look it up, babe.”

He knew the human had no way of looking up such a word, especially if she couldn’t even pronounce it, but Moana was willing to let the topic drop rather than expect Tamatoa to actually tell her what it meant. 

When Maui returned with more fish Tamatoa ate in silence, feeling a lot better in himself already. It was definitely the food, he would never believe himself if he dared to think the company was doing him some good too.


	4. Chapter 4

The days passed by in a similar fashion. Moana and Maui would check up on the giant crustacean, who in turn would have inched closer to his lair overnight. Maui would set a new boundary for Moana's safety and go hunting while the young wayfinder would spend hours letting Tamatoa talk about himself, and occasionally about Maui. She pried into a few topics the crab liked to talk about, surprised to find that when food wasn’t on his mind Tamatoa could be quite eager for conversation.

 

After five days of feeding the giant crab Moana finally brought up what she’d wanted to ask for days.

 

“Do you think you could try walking for me?”

 

Tamatoa leaned his head closer, regarding the teenager with a curious look.

 

“Babe, if I get up and walk I’m pretty sure it'd be more for me than it would be for you.”

 

Moana rolled her eyes with a slight smile. She folded her arms and took a step back to give him room.

 

“You know exactly what I meant, now come on. We're not going to stick around and feed you forever if you’re not even going to try."

 

Tamatoa’s antenna bristled, insulted that Moana would think he was deliberately being lazy. He huffed and slowly started to push himself up onto trembling legs, staggering forward a small step. Moana beamed, hurrying back a few feet to keep to the distance Maui had set before he went hunting.

 

“I knew you could do it! Now um.. see if you can get past this line here.”

 

She pointed at the line Maui had drawn, walking backwards towards Tamatoa's lair as he gradually edged forward until he was over the line. Already the teenager could see that he'd managed to travel more in five minutes than he had dragged himself in four days. Moana hurried a few more feet away, drawing another line excitedly with her spear.

 

“Okay, now let’s see if you can cross this one, it’ll be a breeze with your long legs.”

If Tamatoa hadn’t been concentrating so hard on staying standing he might have realised what Moana was doing. As it was he just put all of his energy into stumbling forwards and over the line. Glancing over her shoulder Moana realised just how close they were to Tamatoa’s lair. She gave a little joyful jump, pointing her spear in the direction of the lair, trying to pull Tamatoa's attention off of just getting over the next line.

 

“Hey, I bet there’s still some gold left in your lair, I’ll race you there!”

 

Tamatoa's head snapped up, calling out between pants as he lurched forward, giving chase.

 

“Don't... touch it! It's mine!”

 

By the time the crustacean caught up with Moana she was already in his lair, sat casually on a rock. Tamatoa pointed a claw at her, narrowing his eyes, catching his breath.

 

“If you've... taken any.. of my.. stuff...”

 

Moana beamed, throwing her arms wide to indicate to the whole cave.

 

“I got you back to your lair! You're welcome~!”

 

She mimicked Maui's egotistical singsong voice, looking utterly thrilled. Tamatoa stopped in his rant, blinking slowly as he realised she was right. He was in his lair, safe and sound, if a bit worn out.

 

“Huh. I guess you did. Not bad, babe, not bad...”

 

A bright light from the entrance drew both of their attention to Maui, fish abandoned as he clutched his hook threateningly.

 

“You okay, kid?”

 

Moana waved her hands briefly, trying to get Maui to lower his hook.

 

“I’m fine, we're both fine! Look, I got him back here, he walked the whole way.”

 

Maui's body slowly released the tension he'd been holding, lowering his hook. He gave a lopsided smile.

 

“I don’t know how you keep doing it, kid. You moved the ocean, you moved Te Fiti and now most shocking of all, you’ve moved this stubborn lump.”

 

Tamatoa turned enough to face Maui, narrowing his eyes to cover a balky pout.

 

“Yeah yeah, it’s a miracle. Mission complete, now get out.”

 

Moana giggled at the crabs less than convincing attitude, sliding off the rock she was on to join Maui at the entrance.

 

“We'll come check on you tomorrow, I might even bring you something shiny.”

 

Tamatoa scoffed, folding his claws.

 

“I’m not some human pet to be.. wait, how shiny?”

 

Moana just waved as Maui lead her away with a laugh.

 

“Don’t encourage him, it’s a terrible fixation!”

 

Tamatoa watched the two head off on their quest, the crab leaning slightly against the wall of his pair’s entrance to monitor them a moment longer. He frowned, his antenna rubbing together at the back of his neck. He could only hope that nobody else had seen his pathetic staggering back to his lair, and then willingly let a human go. A demigod he could explain away if anyone had asked, he was far too weak to have taken on Maui, but he had no excuse for sending a human on their way unharmed. It wasn't as though he actually owed them anything, they were the reason he'd almost starved to death in the first place. And yet he was beginning to realise that he’d miss their company once they returned to the surface. The giant crab shook himself from his thoughts, about to turn around to chastise himself for daring to even think about considering that a monster could have friends, when he caught a glimpse of where Moana and Maui were headed. Toward the realm of Kawémáke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the incredibly long wait! I've had some serious trouble getting my brain up and running in the last few months ^^;


	5. Chapter 5

Moana followed Maui closely, using her spear to cut away leaves and branches that weaved their way across their path. Maui had heard tales of a material that could reverse almost any poisoning. A sort of cure all anti-venom. Although it wasn’t in immediate need, he could tell it would be something the humans would adore, and Moana's eager interest only confirmed that for him. 

 

As nice as trinkets and treasures were, Maui knew from experience that humans valued survival above all else, which is what had lead to his pursuit of islands, fire and food for them. He couldn’t give humans eternal life, the heart of Te Fiti wasn’t for such selfish wants, but he could definitely help them stave off premature death through medications.

 

Moana grew more cautious with her slicing as the area around them seemed to grow darker. The trees began to become more sparse, the ground beneath their feet dusty and covered in dead leaves, like nothing could grow well there. As they ventured deeper, Moana could almost feel the air around them growing denser, like a sense of dread or death was following them. The barren ground infront of them rose sharply on either side, leading into a dry gorge. Moana kept glancing at the cliffsides that held small scurrying creatures hiding from them. She pulled her attention back to the ground infront of them, stepping carefully to avoid getting her foot caught on any of the cracks in the dirt. Maui hesitated as the cliffs funnelling them started to darken the pathway with shadows.

 

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Stay back a moment.”

 

Moana nodded for the sake of saving them an argument but gripped her spear tighter, ready to fight by Maui’s side if something happened. Both of them froze as a crackling hiss echoed off the walls of the canyon. Maui held a finger to his lips, hoping whatever it was hasn’t spotted them yet. Moana nodded and scanned the rocks, looking for the source of the sound. 

 

Suddenly the shadowed rock on the cliffside moved, a massive dark shape jumping at them. Moana leapt backwards.

 

“Maui!”

 

Maui spun around, swinging his hook at the pitch black monster. Unlucky for him the giant creature had the element of surprise and with a massive lobster-like claw it slammed Maui into the opposite wall. 

 

Now that it wasn’t blending in with the cliff Moana could get a decent look at the monster. It was the same size as Tamatoa and sported similar claws. However unlike the coconut crab, it was flatter and lacked a shell. Behind it it’s tail rose in a curl, the end bulging like a club before ending in a long spear. Having never seen a scorpion before Moana was in awe, starting to back away cautiously. She glanced over at Maui, who was struggling to recover quickly from such a rough landing. That small lack of concentration was enough to draw the attention of the inky scorpion. Moana turned her head when she caught the movement of the massive creature lunging at her. She gave a short cry, lifting her spear to defend herself, closing her eyes automatically.

 

A loud clash deafened her for a moment but she was surprised to not feel the beast hit her or her weapon. Expecting to see Maui, Moana opened an eye and paled considerably. The monster was being fought off but her savoir wasn’t the demigod. She looked up to see the scorpion locking claws with Tamatoa, both hissing and snapping at one another. She spun around, frantically looking for an exit from the mass of clashing legs, gripping her spear tight. Moana jumped in fear when something touched her and glanced down just in time to see a panicked looking lizard shapeshift into a giant hawk.

 

Maui tore free from the two battling monsters with Moana in his talons, flying them both to the top of the canyon, dropping her carefully on the edge before shapeshifting back to human, grabbing her shoulders and spinning her around. 

 

“Are you okay!? Did it get you!?”

 

Moana held up a hand to slow Maui down, catching her breath.

 

“I’m fine, really.. Tamatoa, he saved me...”

 

Maui seemed to relax a little, half turning his attention to the two in the gorge, wincing as Tamatoa received a heavy blow to the side of his head.

 

“Look, stay up here, this fight is way too big for you, literally!” 

 

Moana gave a worried pout but nodded, watching with genuine concern for the giant crab as he failed to match the scorpion claw for claw.

 

With a quick war cry, Maui dove off the cliff top, a flash of light changing him to hawk form mid-fall.

 

Tamatoa stumbled back a few steps, struggling to wrestle his adversary into the wall of the canyon. He smirked between panting breaths as he heard the scorpion croak a pained hiss, locking claws with it again. Already he could feel his strength fading as each clash with Kawémáke sent him backwards. One particularly rough strike slammed him into the wall of the gorge, both rock and shell cracking. A cry from behind him very nearly distracted him. Suddenly a blur of feathers struck the scorpion in the eyes before pulling up again, soaring out of reach. Tamatoa took his chance and clubbed the creature over the head with his claw. He felt a little swell of hope in his chest. If Maui was fighting alongside him there was no way he could lose.

 

With renewed vigour, Tamatoa locked claws with the vicious scorpion once more. In a fit of rage, Kawémáke unfurled it’s tail and lashed out with it's stinger. Tamatoa held tight to his adversary’s claws, time seeming to slow down as the realisation hit him. He'd run out of claws to defend himself with. In one swift jerk, Kawémáke found its mark in the soft flesh of Tamatoa's shoulder and drove its stinger deep between the crabs shell. Tamatoa froze, a croak of pain escaping his throat.

 

Maui grinned as he reached the height of his flight, turning to dive back down. His smile vanished abruptly as he saw Kawémáke roughly rip it’s stinger from Tamatoa, the crab landing on the dry ground with a crash as his legs gave way beneath him. Maui felt a jolt of fear in his chest. Suddenly filled with a rage he hasn’t felt in a very long time, Maui sped towards Kawémáke, shifting to human at the last second as he used his hook to slice off the scorpion’s tail and lodge its point in the middle of its head. Kawémáke screeched, going rigid for a few seconds before collapsing, twitching the last of its life force out. 

 

Up on the cliff edge, Moana watched on in horror. The moment she saw Tamatoa go rigid she knew she couldn’t just stay put. Without a second thought she flung herself over the side of the gorge and, using her spear and some jagged foot holds, climbed her way down the cliffside.

 

Maui yanked his hook out of its armoured skin with a glare of pure hatred, panting furiously. He lifted his gaze to Tamatoa, the anger melting from his face. The crab looked very much worse for wear, trembling slightly as he covered his wound with one claw, cuts and bruises littering what was visible of his body. His shell hadn’t escaped the battering, some of the edges cracked or missing little chips. When Tamatoa looked up at Maui in what seemed to be caution mixed with gratitude, he could see that one of the crab’s eyes were swollen shut too. Slowly the demigod approached the crustation.

 

“Hey... how you doing there, big guy..?”

 

Maui held his breath for a moment as he waited for a reply, concern obvious in his expression. Tamatoa couldn't help a tiny snort of amusement at such a stupid question.

 

“Just..ngh.. just peachy...”

 

Moana ran over, spear held tightly as she eyed the limp corpse of Kawémáke. She lowered her weapon when Maui gave her a short nod, confirming the scorpion monster wasn’t a threat anymore. Dropping the spear, she darted to the giant crab's side, all fear of him long forgotten. 

 

“You're hurt!”

 

Tamatoa automatically tried to cover the worst of his wounds, looking a bit awkward at all the sudden concern.

 

“I’m fine, babe, really...”

 

Moana placed a hand on the monster's claw, giving him a very grateful smile.

 

“You saved my life.”

 

Tamatoa’s good eye widened slightly in shock before he tried to look away.

 

“What? No, don't be stupid. That guy had it coming a long time ago...”

 

Maui couldn’t help a lopsided smirk.

 

“So you chose now of all times, while you’re still weak and we just happen to be in the area, to show up and take him on?”

 

Tamatoa gave a shrug, almost instantly regretting it as he bit back a wince. Moana's smile faded to a frown of worry. 

 

“We need to get you to the surface...”

 

Both Maui and Tamatoa stared at the teenager for a moment. Maui pulled out of his stupor first.

 

“Why the surface? I mean.. don’t get me wrong, he clearly needs help but...”

 

Moana turned to the demigod with a stubborn expression.

 

“Clearly it’s too dangerous for him down here and at least up there I can try to help.. please?”

 

Maui folded his arms with a chuckle.

 

“Well, can't argue with that... Ready to see the surface world, crab cake?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I've been really struggling to get anything done lately, everything is exhausting ^^;

**Author's Note:**

> I've been writing this in chapters on and off during my night shifts so expect the next chapter soon~


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